Family had approached UP govt for Asadullah's surrender

The arrest of Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi in a joint operation of Intelligence Bureau (IB) and National Intelligence Agency (NIA) on India-Nepal border on Wednesday has upset his family’s reported plan to get him surrendered in the court.
Rajesh Kumar Singh, Hindustan Times,
Lucknow

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Updated: Aug 30, 2013 12:40 IST

The arrest of Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi in a joint operation of Intelligence Bureau (IB) and National Intelligence Agency (NIA) on India-Nepal border on Wednesday has upset his family’s reported plan to get him surrendered in the court.

Asadullah’s father Dr Javed Akhtar is a leading medical practitioner in Azamgarh and wields considerable influence among the political parties.

After Samajwadi Party came to power in 2012 and announced to withdraw terror cases against innocent Muslims, Akhtar had initiated efforts to avail the benefit of the policy by getting his son surrender in the court.

In May 2012, he had shot off a letter to chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav. The letter alleged that Asadullah was framed and the police was trying to kill him in fake encounter.

Akhtar had urged the state government to arrange for Asadullah’s surrender in the court possibly in New Delhi. “Only a court could ensure justice for my son,” he had said.

In 2009, when Akhtar was picked up for interrogation on his son’s whereabout, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government had intervened to ensure his release. Talking to HT, Akhtar said: “I was not aware that Asadullah was hiding in Nepal since he had no contact with the family since September 2009. The UP as well as Delhi police had been harassing the family members. Raids were conducted on my clinics as well as my. I had urged the state government to stop the harassment by the police,” he said.

Meanwhile, sources confirmed Akhtar with the help of a few SP MLAs had approached the state government to facilitate the surrender process of his son.

However, even when the letter was written almost one year back, no action had been taken over it yet.

“The death of alleged HUJI operative Khalid Mujahid in May 2012 while he was being brought to Lucknow jail from Faizabad district court had given a setback to the state government’s move to get the Muslim youths released from the jail,” a state government officer said.

Meanwhile, a senior state government officer confirmed that the family of another IM operative Ariz Khan alias Junaid who is wanted in Delhi bomb blast case has also approached the state government for surrender Junaid escaped after the Batla House encounter in September 2008.